Godhra carnage. More than a thousand deaths now blamed on 'accident'..

Godhra carnage was pre-planned, insists SIT officer (Times of India)

Gujarat, India, January 18 2005 - A senior Gujarat police officer on Monday told the Nanavati-Shah Commission that "evidence indicated that the Godhra carnage was pre-planned, conspired and had a terrorist link".

India train fire 'not mob attack' (BBC)

New Delhi, India, January 16 2005 - An Indian train fire in Godhra, Gujarat, that killed 59 Hindus and provoked deadly religious riots in 2002 was started by accident, a government inquiry has said. Evidence suggests the fire began inside the train, not that it was fire-bombed, an investigating judge decided. Most accounts from the time and since said a Muslim mob threw petrol bombs at the train, starting the blaze. The incident set off days of rioting in Gujarat state in which at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims,died. Since the train fire, state police have arrested more than 100 Muslims in connection with the incident. About 75 of them remain on remand awaiting trial. No one has been convicted over the train fire.

Pak flag was hoisted after Godhra carnage (Rediff)

Gujarat, India, September 19, 2003 - A witness, Bharatiya Janata Party member and municipal corporator, deposing before the two-member commission inquiring into the Gujarat riots said today that Muslims in the sensitive Amraiwadi area unfurled the Pakistani flag and raised pro-Pakistan slogans ten days after the Godhra riots. He also claimed that Hindus are still being tormented in the area.

Provocation Helped Set India Train Fire (Washington Post)

Gujarat, India, March 5 2002  For two days, as the Sabarmati Express snaked across northern India, some Hindu activists in cars S-5 and S-6 carried on like hooligans. They exposed themselves to other passengers. They pulled headscarves off Muslim women. They evicted a family of four in the middle of the night for refusing to join in chants glorifying the Hindu god Ram. They failed to pay for the tea and snacks they consumed at each stop.
When the train pulled into this hardscrabble town in western India on the morning of Feb. 27, the reputation of its rowdiest passengers preceded it. When they refused to pay for their food, Muslim boys among the vendors at Godhra station stormed the train.
When the confrontation was over, 58 Hindu passengers  mostly women and children  were dead, incinerated by a fire that consumed cars S-5 and S-6. In retaliation, mobs of enraged Hindus descended on Muslim communities across Gujarat state, igniting riots that killed more than 500 people, India's worst religious violence in a decade. Read more..

Tsunami Photos and News

Tsunami (pronounced tsoo-NAH-mee) is a Japanese word meaning "harbor wave." A tsunami is a wave or series of waves that are generated in a body of water by a sudden disturbance that displaces water. They are typically caused by earthquakes and landslides in coastal regions. Volcanic eruptions, nuclear explosions, and even impact of meteorites, asteroids, and comets from outer space can generate a tsunami.

Global Warming..

First snow falls in the UAE : Dec 28, 2004 Not yet considered a skiing holiday destination, the UAE saw its first snow in living memory yesterday in the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah. Temperatures fell below zero at night and left a 1km stretch of mountains dusted with snow. Local residents thought the phenomenon must be linked to the recent tidal waves in Asia.

Thaw sees grass take hold in Antarctica: Dec 18, 2004 GRASS has become established in Antarctica, showing the continent is warming to temperatures unseen for 10,000 years. Scientists have reported that broad areas of grass are now forming turf where there were once ice-sheets and glaciers. Tufts have previously grown on patches of Antarctica in summer, but the scientists have now observed larger areas surviving winter and spreading in the summer months. Some fear the change portends a much wider melting of the ice-cap that formed at least 20 million years ago.

Colored rain in Kerala: July 18, 2001 Scientists in the southern Indian state of Kerala have begun examining an unusual phenomenon: coloured rainfall in some parts of the state. Its southern and central districts have witnessed spells of coloured rain over the past week, prompting researchers to launch a formal investigation. BBCOne possible theory: ....while these extreme hyperthermophiles contain proteins, our study shows the absence of DNA in these organisms, indicating a new primitive domain of life with alternate thermostable genetics. This new biology proves our earlier hypothesis that these microbes are of extraterrestrial origin and also supports our earlier argument that the mysterious red rain of Kerala is due to the cometary delivery of the red spores into the stratosphere above Kerala... sciscoop.com

The times we live in

US and Airport Security The federal agency in charge of airline screening yesterday (Dec 22 2004) changed its policy on patdowns, in part because of complaints by women passengers about searches of their chests. From now on, screeners are to use the back of the hand when screening sensitive body areas, which include the breasts (females only), genitals, and buttocks. TSA said this will make the experience more comfortable for women. Really?!